SOOOO SORRY about the late update. I've got exams soon and I've had writer's block but thanks to some catchy music and YouHaveLovelyHair's addictive Becker story, that block has started cracking so YEY! I felt like being mean to some of the ARC team in this chapter - not that I don't like them! Everyone in the ARC is awesome :D - I just couldn't resist though. Excuse spelling mistakes and whatnot :D I do not own anything except this plot and my OCs who may or may not survive to the end of this story :D
Enjoy :D :D :D
The room was dark, eerie, and it sent shivers down Emily's spine as her eyes begun to grow accustom to the lack of light. She had never seen the place before but her instincts told her that is wasn't a good thing to be standing right in the middle of the dark room.
Just as she moved to the side, a bright light shone down in the spot she'd just been standing in and a loud bang rang in her ears.
A scream echoed around the room. It took her a moment to realise that she had made the noise and she quickly clamped her mouth shut. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her eyes darting around the room as a fire sparked in the middle of the room. It rose quickly, it's oxygen source being supplied from somewhere nearby. She pressed herself against the wall in an attempt to evade the growing flames, scrapping her skin across the rugged concrete as she side stepped to an area of the room that wasn't being affected by the fire.
Her eyes darted around the room, looking for an escape. Her eyes landed on a door a meter away. She tried the handle but found that it wouldn't open. She wiped off dirt from the small window and squinted through the blurry glass.
"Help! Somebody help! I'm trapped!" she banged her fists against the door, hoping it would open. If only it was that simple.
She looked over her shoulder and saw that the fire was still burning bright behind her, the flames edging closer. She could feel her skin grown pink from the heat. She needed to get out before it reached her.
"Help!" her voice cracked as she tried to budge the door open with her shoulder. It had always worked in the action films she had watched with Matt.
Matt. She wished he was here with her. He could protect her! He could make this all go away. He was nowhere in side though.
A tall dark figure walked past the door and Emily's eyes widened. A soldier wearing an all black ARC uniform stopped a few feet away and she begun to feel hopeful. She banged on the door. "Help me, I'm trapped!"
The solider glanced at her and narrowed his eyes, before grinning at her and continuing down the corridor.
"Help! You can't do this to be! Help!" she cried, banging her fists against the door again.
Tounges of heat licked at her elbows and she screamed, pressing her back against the door. She wasn't going to survive this. No escape. She was going to be burned alive.
She closed her eyes and tensed, waiting for the flames to finally catch on her clothing and skin. It was silent for a moment, the heat beginning to retreat.
Emily opened her eyes and saw the glowing fire shrink before her eyes, disappearing in front of her in a puff of black smoke, leaving the room in utter darkness again.
"HELP!" she screamed, hoping someone would be kind enough to get her out of this!
She was blinded suddenly as the dark room was drowned in light. She could finally see what the room truly looked like. The rugged concrete walls were an unusual shade of red, charred in places where the flames had gotten too close. She couldn't help but notice the wall she'd be standing by previous was worse that the others, a curve clearly burnt into the wall. That just couldn't be possible!
If the fire was strong enough to burn through concrete, she seriously needed to escape before whoever was controlling it decides to recreate it.
Emily scanned the room against and smiled to herself when her eyes fell upon an air vent. She took a step forward but froze as the ground shook beneath her. "What is this-"
She gasped and the floor begun to move in two different directions, opening up a hole in the middle of the room. Her heart quickened it's pace as she realised she was going to have to jump to get to the other side for her to be able to reach the vent.
After quickly looking over the side, she saw a tunnel of black. Goosebump froze on her skin as a chilling air blew in.
Jump! You have to jump! She thought to herself quickly.
Before she had a chance to convince herself not to, she ran and jumped over the growing gap. Without stopping she continued to the air vent and quickly pulled herself up, glancing over her shoulder just in time to see the floor disappear into the walls completely.
Crawl! Her mind ordered her. She did just that, crawling through the small metal shafts as far away from that room as she possibly could.
She paused over an opening in the vent and glanced down, noticing two guards talking to each other. They both wore all black uniforms but there was no way they could be ARC soldiers. Becker's men would not have just walked away after seeing someone in danger. She quietly carried on through the vent until a familiar voice rang through her ears.
"Please! Just don't... don't hurt them!" Jess begged.
Emily crawled to the opening in the vent that her voice had come from and peered down into the room. She had to cover her mouth quickly to cover her gasp.
In the middle of the room, Emily saw Jess kneeling on a smooth metal floor with her hands secured firmly behind her back and blood tricklingdown the side of her face.
"Please! I'm begging you! Let my friends go and I'll do it! Please just don't hurt them. Please!" the sound of her voice made Emily's heart break in two. She needed to help her escape.
Emily froze when the tall dark solider she'd seen earlier came into view pointing a gun towards the innocent woman in front of him."You know I can't do that Jess. It'll ruin the whole plan."
"What plan?" Jess hissed angrily.
The solider let out a long dark chuckle and kneeled in front of Jess, making her cringe as he lifted his hand to brush a strange lock of brown hair back over her ear. "You'll be safe here... don't worry." he gently tapped her cheek with his palm and stood back up.
Jess glared at him. "When Becker and Matt learn about this they'll-"
"They're dead."
Both Emily and Jess froze. "You're lying!" Jess growled.
The solider grinned. "Am I?"
Emily woke with a start, sweat covering her forehead. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes were wide. The dream felt so real. She'd never had such a vivd dream before, especially one that left her screaming Matt's name, scared for his safety.
Suddenly going on holiday didn't seem like a such a good idea. She wanted to be back at the flat, wandering around in one of Matt's shirts and curling up on the sofa with his arms wrapped around her protectively.
She looked around, squinting around the dark room. Her pulse quicken as her mind flashed images of the room from her dream. As her eyes slowly got accustomed to the lack of light, she noticed the sofa and tv in front of her and the two suitcases with clothes pouring out of them both.
She closed her eyes and shook her head, shaking off the dream as muffled voices drifted in through the door.
Emily rubbed her eyes and yawned as she opened the door to the hotel room and found Abby and Connor sitting in front of Becker and Jess' door with their ears glued to glasses. "You are very loud." she grumbled.
Abby looked over her shoulder and smiled sympathetically at the older woman. "Sorry Emily. We'll try to be quieter."
"Do you know where Matt is? He should have been back by now?"
Abby glanced at Connor worriedly but he just shrugged. "Becker was the one down on the beach with him and Jess. Maybe we should ask him..." Connor stood up and held his hand up to knock but Abby pulled him back down onto the ground with a quiet laugh.
Emily looked at the door Connor and Abby were sitting in front of and sighed. "Becker won't be very happy with you."
Connor grinned misheviously. "We know Em'."
She frowned. "Was Becker the last to see him?"
Abby looked up at Emily again and saw worry written all over her face. Her instincts took over and she shot to her feet, wrapping her arms around the older woman. "Emily, I'm sure he's okay. He's probably just gone for a walk..."
"I think Andy was on the beach as well. I saw him walking in that general direction."
Abby glared at him. "Connor, shut up!"
He looked up from the spot he'd been staring at while trying to listen through the door and his heart dropped when he saw the panic Emily showed on her face. "Shit, sorry Emily. I doubt he's in any trouble. Matt's smart, he wouldn't walk himself into a situation he couldn't get out of."
Abby smiled at him, a sign that what he'd said was much better than his last statement.
Emily sighed, her hand raising to massage her sore temples. "My head hurts."
Abby laughed quietly. "You're hungover Emily. Again."
"You should go back to bed. I'll ask Becker about Matt." Connor said with a wide grin on his face as he got to his feet.
Abby gave him a stern look. "Touch that door and I'll shoot you with one of the EMDs." she threatened.
He grinned, holding his hand up towards the door. "You don't have the guts."
"Connor..."
He stretched out a finger and pressed it against the wooden door, his grin widening. "Ooo, I touched it."
Abby rolled her eyes and slapped his arm playfully. "You know what I meant Connor. Don't disturb them."
He wrapped his arms around her waist and grinned. "I'll have to find a way of keeping my hands occupied then"
"I am still standing here..." Emily said with a frown.
Abby laughed and pushed Connor away from her. "Go put the glasses back, why don't you."
He left a quick peck on her cheek before disappearing into their hotel room. Abby turned to Emily and could see her expression rapidly changing from amused to panicked. "Okay Em'. What's wrong? What happened?"
she shook her head, her heart quickening it's pace again. "Something bad is going to happen Abby. I can just feel it."
o.O~O.o
Matt wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting to find when Andy led him in through the archway at the end of the tunnel. Sure, he was expecting something along the lines of another supersized anomaly similar to Burton's or a factory filled with prehistoric or future creatures, but nothing preapred him for what he saw as Andy led him in through the archway at the end of the tunnel.
He stood out onto a balcony overlooking a large warehouse with technical equipment and people moving around down below. It was like getting a birds-eye view of the ARC, right down to an armory section and a main computer system... the ADD.
Beside him, Andy grinned at his inexpressive face. He knew him well enough to know he was covering up that fact that he was shocked. Besides his sister and Gideon, he was one of the only people that really could read him. "You weren't the only one with a 'Secret mission' Matt. Bet you had no clue this place even exsisted."
Matt glanced at him and frowned. "Why weren't we informed of this place?"
Andy leaned against the metal railing and looked out at the view. He smiled and waved at a piette brunette girl sitting infront of a computer system grinning up at him. "It's not as advanced as the original ARC but it'll get the job done. Amy decided to leave all the 'technical advancements' up to Connor. We've been 'borrowing' ideas from you."
"Andrew, it's like you packed up the whole ARC and shipped it overseas! Why was I not informed of this?"
Andy's eyes narrowed. "You didn't think anomalies just opened up in the UK, did you? What did you think happened to all those ships and planes that disappeared through the Bermuda Triangle?"
Matt looked back out at the room and saw the piette brunette girl typing away furiously at the keyboard. He squinted, trying to get a better look at the computer screens. It looked similar to the ADD only with one major difference. It was scanning most of America and Canada intead of the UK.
"Gideon personally asked me to start this place up Matt. I couldn't really object to it. I always thought you'd be too busy with your new team... telling you about this place would've just made it harder for you to concentrate of your own mission."
Matt stared at him intently. "And you started this place on your own?"
"Amy helped. Sarah and The Twins had their little impute as well." Matt's stare morphed into a look of confusion and Andy sighed. "You'll meet them soon enough mate. Right now I really think you should get back to your hotel room before Amy-"
"Andy where the hell are you?"
"Shit." He muttered quietly, slowly backing away from the railing. He cringed when he heard his name called again from below.
Matt looked over the edge and saw an annoyed lady with shoulder-length brown hair strolling in through an entrance below him. "Sarah! Have you seen Andy around here?"
The girl at the ADD turned and gazed up at the balcony in time to see Andy pulling Matt back and out of view. Her gaze returned to Amy and she sighed. "Haven't seen him since yesterday."
"Could you call and tell him I want to see him in my office immediately?"
"Why?" Sarah asked.
"I just found socks in the dish washer again."
Sarah stifled a laugh as Amy disappeared with a huff of disappointment. Once she was out of ear-shot, Sarah cupped her hards around her mouth to project her voice. "Clear guys!"
"That was close."
"You're in trouble Drew!" Sarah called with laughter shaking her voice.
Andy sighed. "I kinda gathered that..."
Matt looked at him and frowned. "'Drew'? Since when have you gone by that name?" he looked over the railing again and spotted the small girl, Sarah, walking towards one of the technicians working at a desk nearby.
Andy bit his lip. "She's the only one that calls me that-"
"There you are!" Andy's eyes widened as Amy appeared behind him. She suddenly noticed Matt standing nearby looking slightly uncomfortable adn frowned. He's done it again! Ruined everything! She turned back to Andy and growled. "You little shit! I tell you not to bring any of them here... and what do you do? You go and find the nearest ARC member and bring them back!"
"Hello Amy. How are you this fine morning?" Andy asked cheerfully, trying to change the subject.
She glared. "Don't you 'fine morning' me! Get to my office now!" Matt watched with narrowed eyes as Andy was led away, followed by the angry brunette. He could just faintly hear her asking him how he got the black eye.
Matt looked out at the ADD and frowned. I need to have a look around... this place doesn't feel right.
I was planning on being mean to Matt but then I changed my mind :D He deserved to have a little looksie around before things start to happen. Now excuse me, I've got to go write some three-four paged essays for English :D
I really don't want to do those though...
All of you deserve a cookie for waiting so long :D *hands over virtual cookies* ...
Don't forget to review :D They keep the ARC members alive for longer :P hehe